“Pepper is short now and the market is strong out of Florida,” Adam Lytch, operations manager, said in mid-April.

“Demand exceeds supply. There’s not enough pepper coming out of Florida anytime soon to hurt the deal before it gets to Georgia.”

Lytch said L&M, which grows and ships from south Florida, plans to begin its north Florida pepper harvest in early May.

He said central Florida likely won’t have enough supply to affect prices.

In late April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 1 1/9-bushel cartons of green jumbo and extra large bell peppers from Florida selling for $20-20.85 and large for $18-18.85, with medium at $16.35-18.35.

That’s higher than last season in late April when the USDA reported $12.85 for jumbos and extra-large and $10.85-$12.85 for large from Florida districts.

South Georgia Produce Inc., Lake Park, Ga., expects to begin its bell pepper harvest mid- to late May toward the first of June, said Shannon Vickers, salesman and quality control manager for Manwell Produce Inc., Valdosta, Ga., which markets for South Georgia Produce.

Vickers said early spring prices from south Florida are low.

“For the last three to four weeks, it has been a fairly cheap market,” he said in mid-April.

“There was some $12-14 pepper in early March, but we haven’t seen that in a while,” he said.

“Everyone has a flush of product. The heat has really brought everything on early.”

Harry Sheaffer, vice president of Fresh Link Consolidation LLC, Lake Park, sales agent for Coggins Farm and Produce Inc., said prices were depressed over the winter but improved in late spring.

“We have a tight market,” he said in mid-April.

“South Florida wound up a little early and there wasn’t a lot going in Plant City (Fla.). Usually, there’s not a whole lot of volume in Plant City,” he said. “The market should be snug until Georgia comes into play.”

Jon Schwalls, director of operations for Southern Valley Fruit & Vegetable Inc., Norman Park, Ga., said conditions appeared favorable for a late April start, a month earlier than normal.

“They all look really good,” he said in mid-April.

“I would say they are better this year and better than we have had in the last several years. This should be the best crop I’ve seen in several years.”

Georgia growers normally harvest through early to mid-July.

A tighter supply of the larger cucumbers during early spring could make for better markets when the deal moves from Florida to Georgia, said Sheaffer.

“South Florida has been kind of tight on the No. 1s and a little looser on the off-grades,” Sheaffer said in late April.

“They’re finishing up quicker down there and moving more toward the middle (central Florida). We will see consistent quality (in Georgia) as long as the weather permits,” he said.

“The market will be in a reasonable shape, maybe a little tight through our start. It should be a good deal for everyone.”

South Georgia Produce plans to start harvesting its cucumbers in early to mid-May, earlier than normal, Vickers said.

Vickers said Georgia’s fall deal went well. He said it ended a little quicker than most growers wanted.

The USDA in late April reported 1 1/9-bushel cartons of cucumbers from Florida selling for $16.35-18.35 for waxed mediums. That’s similar to last season.

“I think the market’s average now,” he said in mid-April. “They have had a real warm winter down there in south Florida. No one has been knocked out of the game. There are plenty of cucumbers around.”

L&M plans to begin its harvesting in early May, ahead of its normal mid-May start, Lytch said.

He said the heat is bringing the cucumbers on fast.

“The offshore deal recently wrapped up,” he said in mid-April.

“Price and demand are fair. The Florida crops are not tremendous. There was a lot of wind this spring in Florida, which really affected the cucumbers. We have blown through a lot of acres and are not getting a tremendous yield for what we normally do,” he said.

“Quality has been good but there’s not a lot of yield. The market hasn’t really responded to that lack of yield.”

Lytch quoted $16 for supers and $8 for selects.

This season’s squash harvesting began in mid- to late April, about a week earlier than usual.

Northampton Growers Produce Sales Inc., Cheriton, Va., which grows and ships from Florida, Georgia and other East Coast regions, started production in late April.

“They look very good,” Calvert Cullen, president, said in mid-April.

“The weather has been favorable. I think we will have good supplies and because of the good growing conditions, quality will be excellent.”

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About the Author:

Doug Ohlemeier

Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist.
Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments.